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From SeeingBlack.com Movies With the success of Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Family Reunion” and “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” the new independent film, “Preaching to the Choir,” might be considered in the mold of Perry’s appealing church-centric soap operas that can be heavy on both morality and melodrama.
While such a comparison is legitimate, “Preaching to the Choir”—which tells the story of two brothers, one a minister and the other a rapper— also echoes other recent productions, including “The Gospel,” “The Fighting Temptations” and, perhaps, even “Johnson Family Vacation.” Originality is not its strong suit but it does include some good acting and musical performances. The story begins in 1988 in North Carolina, where two twin brothers, Wesley and Teshawn, are orphaned when their father is shot and their mother commits suicide. Their Aunt June takes both boys to live with her in “Paradise,” meaning Harlem, N.Y., where they quickly become active in their aunt’s Baptist church, Wesley as a budding minister and Te as a singer in the choir. Fast forward to the present, Wesley (Darien Sills-Evans) is the pastor of the church and Teshawn (Billoah Greene) has found fame and fortune as a rapper under the name “Zulunatic.” Zulu is having a conflict with his record label in Los Angeles and decides to take the masters of his work-in-progress from the safe of the company, headed by Bull Sharky (Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje), a former rapper whose throat was cut in a fight and who now speaks in a hoarse whisper. Accompanied by his inept henchmen, Bull Sharky decides to retrieve the discs and teach Zulu a lesson. The half drama-half comedy builds to a crescendo when the two very different brothers are reunited in Harlem, when Teshawn finds himself back in church, and when Bull Sharky closes in on him. Through the ins and outs of the story “Preaching” is not as melodramatic as Perry’s work but it is not as original or engaging either. Writers Monica Lengyel Carlson and Kevin Heffernan hit on themes that are timeworn and, in making his transition from the stage to film, director Charles Randolph-Wright delivers a narrative that is a bit choppy in places. In one scene, the boys are leaving North Carolina in a car and, in the next they are coming up the steps of the subway into Harlem with no suitcases. Just as quickly, they change into shirts and ties and head into church. The film also does not convey the atmosphere, emotion or intimacy that could’ve taken it to the next level, (and that ultimately rescued other low-budget efforts, such as “The Gospel” or those by Perry.) On the plus side, the characters of Wesley and Teshawn, and the corresponding performances by Sills-Evans and especially Greene, are very likeable and give the production a sense of buoyancy when it would otherwise sink. Performances of the various church member characters, including those by Eartha Kitt, Denise Burse, Marva Hicks and Adriane Lenox, also add texture to the film that is lacking in the script. Iverem’s review of “Preaching to the Choir” first appeared on www.BET.com. Her new book of poems is Living in Babylon © Copyright by SeeingBlack.com |
